books44 Chapter 84 The Wicked Queen's Magic Mirror
Chapter 84 The Wicked Queen's Magic Mirror
[Host, may I ask you a question?]
Li Tingyun sat on the ground in front of Mei Shiyu's room, pressing his temples with both hands to relieve his old headache. Suddenly, he heard Wang Laoliu's voice and said, "No."
[...Why do you unilaterally cut off contact with the system every time you are alone with Mei Shiyu?]
Li Tingyun said, "It's for your own good."
Wang Laoliu remained noncommittal, a seed of doubt deeply rooted in his heart. However, at this moment, he had more important matters to attend to, so he did not press Li Tingyun for answers.
[Host, 001 is notifying you that the protagonist's health has dropped to 20%. The golden coffin is no longer sufficient to nourish his soul. You must find a way to save him!]
Li Tingyun said, "Let him die."
[Please, take this transmigration mission seriously! How can the protagonist die? Even if tomorrow is the end of the world, even if everyone in the lower realm dies, he still has to stay alive and wait for the opportunity to ascend!]
"Then tell me, how do we save him? Don't make me figure it out myself, my brain can't keep up anymore, my head is killing me!"
【Okay, I'll tell you how! You just need to return the jade pendant to the protagonist.】
"...What jade pendant?"
[Of course, it's the jade pendant you snatched from Yuan Che the first time you met him! It's a celestial treasure given to him by the sect leader of the Dao Xuan Sect, perfect for nourishing his soul.]
"That jade pendant isn't on me. I put it in my Qiankun bag. Who knows where the Black and White Impermanence took it?"
Well, I can't think of any other solutions for the time being.
[Yuan Che might still be able to hold on a little longer; the system will remind him again when his health drops below 10%.]
That would be extremely dangerous!
"Danger my ass. Anyway, Heaven is on his side. You yourself said he's the 'Chosen One of the Planes,' how could he be so easily defeated?"
That makes sense.
[In addition, 001 also hinted that traces of an ancient artifact have appeared nearby. If you can obtain this treasure, it will bring you great benefits! Host, how about we pull off something big?]
Li Tingyun became interested and asked, "First, explain clearly, what kind of ancient artifact is it?"
【Water Mirror.】
This artifact originally belonged to the Judge's Temple, but somehow it ended up nearby. How strange!
Perhaps you were just lucky; no one can have bad luck forever.
Upon hearing that it was about the Water Mirror, Li Tingyun's interest immediately skyrocketed.
"It's actually the legendary Three Lives Mirror, which is even more interesting than Snow White's stepmother's magic mirror?!"
What kind of analogy is that? It sounds ridiculous.
"That's exactly what you said in your book! It's really crazy. But if you hadn't written it that way, I wouldn't remember it so clearly."
Because the Three Lives Mirror allows one to see the movements of other people, and even to see their past and present lives.
Therefore, with this mirror, one can know everything and understand everything, which sounds just like the evil queen's magic mirror.
[Host, I suspect that 001 is reminding you to acquire this crystal to help you better understand the plot's direction.]
After all, following a system upgrade that added the "Creative Inspiration" module, the original plot underwent significant changes, with some events that should have occurred later being brought forward.
[Furthermore, with the random and unpredictable appearance of reborn individuals, even I, the original author, find it difficult to foresee what kind of trouble will unfold next.]
[Especially the supporting characters, the changes are huge!]
[Take Si Wuxie and Xia Changfeng, for example. In the original book, these two should have become enemies, but they still maintained a lingering socialist brotherhood...]
The system further refined the various karmic connections between them, and overall it seemed to have stayed on track, but!
However, considering the recent events, I have a feeling that something is off between them.
I've already sent you their scripts, and you seem to have this feeling that "something's not quite right" about them.
Li Tingyun said, "...No, Sixth Brother, you're being too sensitive."
Okay, maybe the shock of that guy being paraded through the streets was too much for me, because now I feel like something's off about every one of you...
[Host, you need to stay focused! Don't get too caught up in the act; we have a main mission to complete!]
Once the mission is complete, you can retire gracefully.
"Sixth Brother, have you ever thought that perhaps the life paths of these supporting characters are not given by the system, but are the result of their personalities, their choices, and their experiences?"
"The system simply generates text and presents it to you and me based on their actions."
Yes, after the last training session, I finally understand that "creative inspiration" doesn't refer to the system creating randomly, but rather the system summarizing and generalizing the lives of the characters in the book, which are driven by themselves.
No matter how meticulously a system crafts a story, it can't compare to things happening naturally.
Sigh... I've actually thought about the chicken-or-egg problem a long time ago.
[This question can also be rephrased: In a well-developed story, are the characters driving the plot, or is the author driving the plot?]
I used to think it was the latter, but now I feel it's the former, especially after becoming a system customer service representative. I increasingly feel that the author is the one most powerless to control the plot's direction.
As the famous European sculptor Michelangelo once said, "The human figure was already there; the sculptor merely liberates it from the stone."
As our ancient sages in the East once said, "A good article is a gift from heaven, and a skillful hand may occasionally bring it to fruition."
Perhaps the author wasn't the "creator" at all, but merely an observer and recorder.
Perhaps... perhaps I've 'created' a real world?
Li Tingyun muttered to himself, "Water Mirror, I really need this mirror."
"I don't even understand what happened to me. I know nothing about the villain's past, but I can understand everything he did."
“If this were my own life, I would make the exact same choice as him, and no matter how many times I could do it all over again, nothing would change.”
[Holy crap! Host, I wasn't paying attention, and when did your assimilation rate with the original owner spike to 70%?!]
[No, no... This is too strange. You didn't do anything, so how did you get assimilated?]
"Assimilation," according to the system's previous explanation, means that there is a quantum coupling between the host and the original owner, and their life trajectories will occasionally overlap.
In addition, the host will be influenced by the original owner's memories, obsessions, and long-cherished wishes. Over time, the host will be "assimilated" by the original owner in terms of thoughts and behaviors.
Wang Laoliu always viewed "assimilation" as a process of "soul fusion".
Generally speaking, the soul of the transmigrator occupies the body of the original owner, while the original owner's soul remains inside the body, passively entering a state of slumber.
However, the original owner has a certain psychological influence on the host.
Its assimilation value increases slowly over time.
Once the transmigrator completes their mission, they will face two choices: either return the body to the original owner and go back to the real world...
Alternatively, one can merge their soul with the original owner to achieve 100% assimilation.
In this way, the host can continue to live in the world of the book.
However, Wang Laoliu discovered from the very beginning that the original soul of the villain in "The First Sword of Immortals" was not in Li Tingyun's body at all.
The original owner's soul has disappeared without a trace.
Because the 001 Transmigration System had too many bugs, Wang Laoliu didn't even have time to deal with such details.
All he knew was that if the original owner's soul did not exist, the host would be less likely to be influenced by the original owner.
In other words, they are very difficult to assimilate, let alone merge with a soul.
This is a good thing for Wang Laoliu.
Because the original owner of the villainous body was no good, the higher the degree of assimilation between the host and the original owner, the harder it is to control—he and the original owner, that "lunatic," even had trouble communicating, let alone cooperating to complete missions.
From Wang Laoliu's perspective, the original owner's soul no longer exists, which is also a good thing for the host.
Because the only fate of villains is death!
If the host's assimilation value with him reaches 100%, and the two become one soul, the host will lose his life for nothing.
Once Li Tingyun dies in the world of the book, he will cease to exist in the real world.
So Wang Laoliu secretly rejoiced: Hey, this bug is good, this bug is even benign!
But the pressing issue right now is: the villain's original soul has vanished without a trace, and the host has been "assimilated" just like that?!
Moreover, the assimilation value has reached an astonishing 70%.
How is this possible?
Wang Laoliu racked his brains but couldn't figure out why.
So he said to Li Tingyun:
[Host, I need to go see the dimensional administrator. I demand a reasonable explanation from him!]
For the next while, you'll be outwitting and outmaneuvering 001, this artificial idiot.
[But remember this: make sure you get your hands on the Water Mirror; it will be very useful in the future!]